essereavere

Essereavere is a term used in Italian grammar to refer to the pair of auxiliary verbs essere and avere, which are employed to form compound tenses such as the passato prossimo, trapassato prossimo, futuro anteriore and related forms. The choice of auxiliary is a defining feature of how Italian encodes perfective aspect, voice, and sometimes mood, across finite clauses.

In general, most transitive verbs take avere as their auxiliary in compound tenses, while many intransitive verbs—especially those expressing movement, change of state, or a state of being—take essere. Reflexive and most pronominal verbs also use essere. Some verbs can take either auxiliary depending on meaning: with avere when the verb is transitive and emphasizes the action on an object (ho visto il film), and with essere intransitively when the focus is on the subject’s state or movement (sono andato/sono andata).

Past participle agreement differs depending on the auxiliary. With essere, the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject (sono andato, è arrivata). With avere, the participle generally does not agree unless there is a preceding direct object pronoun or a pronoun that precedes the participle (ho visto i film vs li ho visti). In passive voice, the verb is formed with essere as auxiliary and the past participle agrees with the subject (la porta è chiusa, le porte sono chiuse).

Some verbs can use either auxiliary with a change of meaning or nuance, such as crescere or piacere, which may shift between be-ing and having, depending on construction. Learners are advised to consult dictionaries for selection rules and common usage.